AIT participant is one of the most innovative in Latin America

Electrical engineer and researcher at the University of Pernambuco Caio Guimarães, founder of the startup beone Technologies, is featured on the “MIT Technology Review” Latin America Under 35 List. His startup develops a treatment to end amputations associated with diabetes with photomodulation. Caio was also one of the participants of the 2019-2020 edition of the Academia-Industry Training (AIT) program, organized by swissnex Brazil in collaboration with the University of St. Gallen (HSG), CNPq and the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovations and Communications (MCTIC). During the Final Pitching Session of the AIT, an event that marks the end of Camp Week and participants pitch their startups to the public for jury evalutation, Caio was also selected as one of the three winners.

In 2014, during an internship at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine, a Harvard and MIT laboratory, Caio was instrumental in advancing a study funded by the American Army. At the time, a group of scientists had discovered a new way to eradicate antibiotic-resistant bacteria with the use of light beams. Caio developed a portable device with Amazon purchased items that used the same luminous frequency and thus the first version of ISIS®, the portable device offered by beone, was created.

Caio Guimarães was already featured on the Forbes 30 under 30 list and his goal is to expand his solution initially to hospitals. And, little by little, make his product accessible to the general public – so that people can use it in the comfort of their homes.

The AIT is an initiative by swissnex Brazil and the Leading House for the Latin American Region (University of St.Gallen), and consists of two phases: a first training camp in Brazil, connecting Brazilian researchers-entrepreneurs with their Swiss peers; and a second training camp in Switzerland, bringing together Brazilian and Swiss participants.